BlueInk Review Notable Book, Starred
(Booklist, June 2026, American Library Association Conference Issue)

Promising Young Man

Elias Axel

Publisher: My Delightful Life Press Pages: 240 Price: (paperback) $17.99 ISBN: 9798992065602Reviewed: March, 2026Author Website: Visit »

In this winning coming-of-age novel, a young man struggling with ADHD re-captures his childhood sense of wonder on a cross-country road trip with his grandmother.

Eighteen-year-old Oscar is a good kid who can’t seem to get out of his own way. He’s unable – or unwilling – to finish his final few requirements to graduate with his senior class. He’s constantly high and wallows in his failures and disappointments. His only solace is his aging dog and one-day-a-week job at Oh Henry’s diner, where he connects with the regulars, and where the owner, Mr. Henry, actually listens to his ideas for improving the failing restaurant.

But on prom night, Oscar gets wasted and finds himself in trouble for trashing the very diner he loves – despite no real memory of what happened. In a last-ditch effort to save him from himself, his parents engineer a cross-country trip with his Grammy to satisfy her bucket list – and hopefully get Oscar back on track to graduation.

Adding to the tale, the author never loses sight of Oscar’s ADHD perspective as he travels without screens, phones or his daily joints. It’s not an easy trip, given Grammy’s habit of taking detours to see odd sights or find a better cup of coffee. Oscar wants to get back to finish up for graduation, adding to his anxiety. But Grammy has her own agenda – and it’s not all about Oscar.

Peopled with interesting characters throughout, the bittersweet journey introduces the nascent Oscar to a world outside his own small sphere. When he has a final monumental clash with Grammy, it leads to poignant realizations: Oscar finds that Grammy had hopes, dreams, and disappointments of her own. When she reveals what really happened at the diner that night, he realizes how wrong his perceptions had been.

The writing and dialogue are so on point readers might be tempted to think of the book as a memoir. Whether readers identify with Oscar, Grammy or Oscar’s well-meaning helicopter mother, the book is sweet and endearing with something for everyone.

Also available as an ebook.

Library Bookwatch, June 2026
(Midwest Book Review)

Promising Young Man
Elias Axel
https://eliasaxel.com
My Delightful Life Press
https://www.mydelightfullife.com
9798992065602, $17.99, PB, 239pp

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Promising-Young-Man-Elias-Axel/dp/B0DVQ7LLG6

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/promising-young-man-elias-axel/1146973363

Synopsis: Oscar Danielsson is eighteen, brilliant, ADHD, and about to ruin his life -- again.

He looks like a promise waiting to be kept. His biggest fear is everyone discovering he's not what they expect at all. Between his spectacular mistakes, self-medicating, and overwhelming existential dread, hiding in his room feels safe, even if it means blowing high school graduation.

Then, one hazy mistake too many launches Oscar on a mysterious cross-country road trip with his free-wheeling Grammy, who's done playing by the rules... and living a lie. Leaving behind his girl crush, beloved dog, and all his comforting vices is torture. But Grammy's secret changes everything -- and Oscar discovers one of his own!

Oscar is the defiant anti-hero you can't stop rooting for. Grammy's his unlikely wingman.
Together they're almost okay.

Critique: Deftly edited by Julian Josip, "Promising Young Man" is a simply fascinating, original, and exceptional 'coming of age' novel by Elias Axel and showcases the author's genuine flair for the kind of character and narrative driven storytelling style that makes for a great read. Laced throughout with satire and dark humor, "Promising Young Man" is a fun, deftly crafted, and thought-provoking novel that is especially and unreservedly recommended for highschool and community library Contemporary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that this paperback edition of "Promising Young Man" from My Delightful Life Press is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Alias Axel has a high value website (https://eliasaxel.com) that will interest his readers as features his blog, a section called 'Get Involved', and more.

Windy City Reviews

BookReview: Promising Young Man by Elias Axel

Promising Young Man, Elias Axel, My Delightful Life Press, February 2025, print, 238. 

Reviewed by Philip Janowski.

The genre of bildungsroman, or the coming-of-age novel, has arguably two primary sources in Western literature. Both sources were published in the 1700s: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by English writer Henry Fielding, followed several decades later by the German Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. The modern form of the coming-of-age story, including Promising Young Man, utilizes elements from both these ur-novels. Tom Jones sets the foundation of a young man setting out on a realistic quest—realistic here meaning not formed by mythological themes, ala the Arthurian grail legends—to come to a better understanding of the world and his place in it.

Wilhelm Meister is purposefully messier and involves more encounters with chance (even before being compared to Tom Jones, one of the most carefully constructed plots in the history of fiction), but influences the history of literature with its focus on the protagonist’s psychological growth and realization of personal identity. 

Elias Axel’s novel, Promising Young Man, is a coming-of-age novel following an eighteen-year-old with ADHD, or ADD. Novels with neurodivergent protagonists, at least explicitly advertised neurodivergent protagonists, are unfortunately rare. Written in a first-person, “I” perspective, Axel gives his protagonist Oscar a narrative voice authentic to a real individual, with the strengths and weaknesses that come with attention deficit disorder. Oscar’s creative spirit or excited “love”—as Promising Young Man puts it—leaps from topic to topic both in dialogue and in the narrator’s private asides. We also witness his addictive personality, marijuana being his initial substance of choice, as well as bouts of sudden despair. 

Despite the narrator’s focal leaps this is not an experimental work. Or, at least, not the kind of experimental work that is hard to follow. The story clearly follows a roadtrip from Chicagoland to Los Angeles, routed through the southwestern United States. After failing to write a paper necessary to graduate high school, Oscar attends a party where he drinks too much, blacks out, and wakes up having taken the fall for his friend, Christian, who broke into a local diner and damaged a valuable milkshake machine. Oscar is tasked to journey with his grandmother (referred to as “Grammy” in the narrative) on the roadtrip to Los Angeles in order to obtain a replacement.  

This introductory summary may leave the reader with some logical questions. In the standard of Tom Jones, where quiet mysteries build and are neatly resolved by the end, your questions will be answered. Tom Jones suggested that the world, no matter how messy, ultimately has answers. Promising Young Man does the same, while keeping the integrity of the protagonist’s challenges with ADHD intact.   

Along the way Oscar meets several new friends and possibly new family members. He discovers greater richness in life than he formerly felt, smoking weed alone in his room, and re-contextualizes his recurring fantasies of death. (Let this be a warning that the novel covers some dark material — but in a realistic, worthwhile way.) An immediate comparison may be made to Hal Ashby’s classic 1971 film, Harold and Maude, about a suicidal young man teaming up with a spirited elderly woman. Comparatively, Oscar has his more cheerful moments, and Grammy has her more depressed ones. And they are certainly not in a romantic relationship.

The reviewer was impressed by the emotional richness of the characters, the tackling of ADHD, and the well-constructed plot. Recommended.  

Coming of Age

Booklife Reviews Editor’s Pick

Promising Young Man by Elias Axel

Axel debuts with a sharp and poignant novel of coming-of-age on the road, with a story of intergenerational bonding that captures the messiness of young adulthood—and also some insights into adult grieving—with humor and heartbreak. At the center is Oscar Danielsson, a quick-witted but deeply uncertain 18-year-old grappling with his ADHD, self-destructive habits, and an unclear future. When a reckless mistake lands him in serious trouble, Oscar embarks on a cross-country road trip with his free-spirited grandmother, Grammy, leaving behind his beloved dog, Enzo, and the possibility of budding romance with Bette. That’s a lot to sacrifice for Graceland, Fort Defiance, and Route 66, but what starts as something of a form of punishment turns into an opportunity for self-discovery, as between comic mishaps Oscar must confront painful family truths and reevaluate his sense of purpose.

Axel’s writing crackles with energy and hard-won insight, capturing Oscar’s inner monologue in a way that feels both authentic and deeply relatable. His frustration, self-doubt, and impulsive decisions make him a flawed but compelling narrator, and his evolving dynamic with Grammy moves and surprises, as Grammy pushes Oscar toward healthier habits, encourages him to open up to strangers, and assures him “if you give yourself a chance, one day, your transmitters will show you the love and wonder of yourself.” Also compelling: Oscar’s deteriorating relationship with his friend Christian, which underscores how isolating young adulthood can be, especially when past coping mechanisms no longer work.

The road trip offers Oscar space to see himself differently, to seize the remaining moments of his youth rather than resign himself to failure. Though his circumstances are bleak—failing to graduate, losing his job, and facing legal trouble—the novel highlights the power of second chances and the unexpected ways growth can take shape. Axel delivers a story that is messy, tender, and often darkly funny, a gripping read for anyone caught between adolescence and adulthood—or who wants to recall that moment.

Takeaway: Raw and witty coming-of-age road trip, bursting with life.

Comparable Titles: Jandy Nelson, Jennifer Niven.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Kirkus Reviews “Get it”

PROMISING YOUNG MAN

by Elias Axel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2025

A bittersweet and revelatory coming-of-age story by a promising author.

In Axel’s YA novel, a teenager struggles to find his identity and his place in society during a cross-country road trip with his grandmother.

Angst-ridden teens have long been a staple trope in fiction, but 18-year-old Oscar Danielsson finds that his familiar difficulties feel particularly daunting, due to his diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s a condition that requires him to take extra time to complete his school assignments and also leaves him habitually late for work. He’s struggling to finish his senior thesis and mend fences with his best friend, Christian, who notes, “You don’t reply to my texts for weeks.” Oscar’s life is further muddled by the fact that his go-to stress relief method is smoking cannabis; his pal scoffs that “the last time I saw you canni-sober was sophomore year.” Matters come to a head after Oscar is caught breaking into Chicago diner Oh Henry’s, where he works, and wrecking a new milkshake maker. Bright as he is, Oscar’s future seems irreparably damaged, yet he’s allowed a chance at redemption—if he agrees to join his grandmother on a cross-country road trip and pick up a new shake machine. Their ensuing odyssey through Fort Defiance in Illinois, Dallas, and Memphis favorably recalls the feel of classic 1970s road films, thanks in part to Oscar’s dry, sardonic asides: “I’m so itchy to smoke I might shed my skin,” he narrates at one point. Many young readers will readily identify with the young protagonist, who, deep down, underneath his wiseacre façade, simply wants to be accepted and loved. It’s a deft portrait that sidesteps stereotypes with sensitivity and skill, and, for many, it will strike a strong chord. Where Axel goes from here should prove to be exciting to watch.

A bittersweet and revelatory coming-of-age story by a promising author.

Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025

ISBN: 9798992065602

Page Count: 238

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025

IndieReader Discovery Awards

2026 Winner, New Adult Fiction

PROMISING YOUNG MAN

By ELIAS AXEL

• Posted by IR Staff

• June 2, 2025

PROMISING YOUNG MAN by Elias Axel takes readers on an emotional and humorous journey through the life of Oscar Danielsson, a teen struggling with ADHD, self-doubt, and the pressures of growing up. A spontaneous cross-country road trip with his eccentric grandmother forces Oscar to confront his mistakes, embrace unlikely friendships, and discover that second chances can come in the most unexpected forms. With equal doses of humor and heartbreak, this coming-of-age debut captures the chaos of growing up and the hope that comes from finally learning to face the world on your own terms, offering a refreshing and hopeful perspective that resonates with readers of all ages.

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